Glen Scotia Distillery Edition 002 12 Years Old 2003

Glen Scotia from the distillery, a 12 year old, from 2003, cask 332, at 56.4%. Glen Scotia is a Campbeltown single malt known for sea salt, oil and a salted toffee. Campbeltown, the Wee Toon, once held some thirty distilleries and was the whisky capital of the world.

It was worked through the stills for an oily, coastal make, building a maritime character of sea salt and oil. An ex-Bourbon barrel shaped it, vanillin lending vanilla under the salt and oil. Integration folds eugenol (clove) and vanillin (vanilla) into the malt, the body oilier and the salt softer. Maturation in the Campbeltown warehouses, by the sea, lends a coastal edge. It has been owned by the Loch Lomond Group since the 1990s, after many changes of hands. Its water is drawn from Crosshill Loch above the town. The maritime setting on the Kintyre coast threads salt and brine through the spirit.

At 56.4%, undiluted, it is deep and briny. A briny, oily coastal fruit, with a soft vanilla from the oak. The mouthfeel is oily, the fruit carried on a briny body. The finish is rounded, salted and oily. This is a salty, oily Campbeltown single malt.